Native white Australians, also known as native Australians, native-born Australians, native-born white Australians, or simply the Australians, are the children and descendants of the British and European colonists that settled in Australia during the Australian colonial period. Native white Australians were sometimes contrasted with the native black Australians, called Australian Aborigines. Both were referred to as natives from as early as 1806, with the term natives coming to predominantly refer to native-born white Australians. Native white Australians are a distinct people. The establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia was an accomplishment attributed primarily to them, in conjunction with their British-born ancestors, whose work they built upon. As Australia had no legal citizenship or nationality of its own until 1949, virtually all historical references to Australians prior to that time are to Native white Australians and their progenitors. Between federation in 1901 and the introduction of legal Australian citizenship in 1949, Australian citizenship and nationality referred to birth and communal identity.
Demographics
The first Native white Australians were born in 1788, the same year the First Fleet arrived. In that year, 28 babies were born to convict mothers. Their fathers were often unknown. These children grew up alongside the Aboriginal children that lived around Sydney and Parramatta. Native white Australians were approximately a quarter of the population of the colony of New South Wales in both 1817 and 1828. There were slightly more native-born than free settlers in 1850. They were nearly half of the population in 1868. Their proportion of the population decreased during the times of the rapid population growth brought on by the goldrushes. Out of a total population of 3.7 million, 2.9 million were Native white Australians in 1903.
Native white Australians were reckoned by one anonymous observer to possess a distinct physical appearance, and were remarkably honest. Their youth were described as "physically and intellectually" weaker than their counterparts in Britain, "less capable of work", and "possessing little physical power or endurance". Others applied these descriptions only to those who lived in the city, claiming the weakness of city-dwellers was a global phenomenon. They described the Australians of the bush and fields as "some of the finest men", with "powerful frames" and "unequalled muscular development". Colonial newspapers complained about discrimination against native white Australians for government jobs, alleging that the authorities held the Australian-born to be unworthy of the posts. They were discriminated against in land grants: in 1928, they made up 66% of the free white population and 20% of them owned land. This 20% held less than 5% of the total land that had been granted. This meant that Native white Australians had less than 300,000 acres out of the 6 million that had been granted. Native white Australians fought at Gallipoli.
Role in the Development of Australia
Native white Australians were instrumental in developing the self-governing and democratic institutions of Australia. The Australian Natives' Association, founded in 1871, promoted Australian nationhood and an appreciation for Australian culture. Nativity was heavily associated with the idea and phrase 'Australia for Australians'. Australia for Australians was a movement to restrict unnecessary immigration, promote training and employment of Australians ahead of foreigners, and to implement policies suited to Australians and their interests. Those who opposed it were sometimes said to support "Australia for the International Proletariat". Some opposed the idea of Australia for Australians during the colonial period owing to the allegedly mediocre political ability of native Australians compared to the British-born. Others, writing after Federation, said that the ambition expressed by the idea of Australia for Australians was a healthy one, springing from honourable motives, and that the lack of it would be a distinctive note of the failure of colonisation. They historically advocated for assimilation, meaning new colonists from Britain would lose their previous national distinctions, merge their identity with that of the Native white Australians, and see things from their view. They adopted this position even as they were accused of singling themselves out from the rest of the population in Australia. Critics of Australian nativism complained that many of those who claimed to be native-born Australians were actually not born in Australia, and that it promoted irrational political extremism.
